Bosnian federation defies UEFA

The Bosnian Football Federation (NSBIH) yesterday failed to adopt changes to its statute sought by FIFA and UEFA, triggering a ban from international competition to start on Friday.

During a meeting of the federation’s general assembly in Sarajevo, 28 out of 54 delegates present voted against changes to the statute, an NSBIH statement said.

Football governing bodies UEFA and FIFA had demanded that NSBIH’s ethnic-based tripartite presidency be replaced by a single president.

“We will wait for more information, but the suspension will be automatic starting from April 1,” a UEFA spokesperson told AFP.

Bosnia are in Group D for Euro 2012 qualifiers, a group currently topped by France. Their next game is against Romania on June 3. If the NSBIH fail to implement the sought changes, UEFA’s executive committee could remove the national squad from the qualifiers.

UEFA’s executive committee will meet on June 16-17, but could be summoned for an earlier meeting.

The changes sought by UEFA and FIFA were backed by 22 delegates, with three abstaining while one left the room during the vote.

The NSBIH assembly has 60 delegates, 20 from each of Bosnia’s three ethnic communities – Croats, Muslims and Serbs.